Dear bionetters,
I'm doing a research proposal on a biological problem in a non-Western
country for a microbiology seminar. I chose to address detection of
cryptosporidium in Costa Rica. From one article I've read , Giardia cysts
have been detected with a cDNA probe. I imagine the same could be done
with Cryptosporidium oocysts, but I haven't found any published articles
(only immunoflourescence has been used). Would a subunit of the 16s-like
rRNA be used, as in Giardia? What gene specifically? As a backup plan, I
will have the immunoassay method, but antibodies against what proteins?
On a different but related topic, though I have two articles regarding
Cryptosporidium in Costa Rica, I would like to know what kind of water
treatment, if any, occurs in urban areas in that country and in urban areas
of other Central American countries. I have statistics regarding diarrheal
agents, but not enough on water treatment. It seems that urban Costa
Ricans would have better water treatment than their Central American
counterparts.
Steve Laubach
slaubac1 at cc.swarthmore.edu